20060430 Panama City Beach to LAX

We didn't sleep well - too eager to get going. Finally the dawn came and we started.

Cab to the airport. No problems checking in, or with security. Smooth flight in a CRJ to ATL. Arrived Concourse C, departing from Concourse A (of course), so we moved there. Waited and boarded the 767-400 for LAX. Full flight but not bad.

Arrived on time at LAX, cancelled the backup reservations on Southwest, caught the hotel bus to the hotel. Checked in, had a beer in their 75-beer bar, then took a hike around a long block or two just to stretch.

We signed up for a van tour of LA tomorrow to stay occupied and to show Dolores some of the place.

We watched TV for a bit on our return, then to an early (for PDT) dinner and returned to the room to rest.

Most likely, we'll wake up at 4:00am and be wide-awake. 
 

20060501  LAX & depart for Sydney Australia            Photos link - starts new page

We began by waking up at around 5:00am and finally got up at 6:30 PDT. 

Had breakfast in the hotel dining room, hearing unending conversation by a couple of software/systems types trying to find common ground for an upcoming RFP response. I'm sure glad I'm not in that stuff anymore.

The tour departed around 9:00 by going to the common departure point, then departing again at 9:30 for the real tour. Santa Monica, Venice (muscle beach)(pictures but cool and foggy), up to Rodeo Drive, Century City area, picture stop at Yamashiro's restaurant where you can take pictures of the HOLLYWOOD sign.

Back to Grauman's and the stars and the walk, then downtown (prior to the demonstration this same day), then back to the hotel. We checked out as late as possible, 3:00pm, and shuttled to the Qantas terminal, first the wrong one, then the right one (some of their flights are AA codeshares and depart from the American terminal).

A friendly QF rep opened up early so we could check in. He gave us exit-row seats for the extra legroom at our request. Then we walked back to the International terminal and wandered around in it for a while. We got thirsty and stopped at the bar for a couple of glasses. Conversed for a while with a pair from San Luis Obispo who were taking the non-stop to London Heathrow (11 hours), continuing after a six-hour break to Johannesburg, South Africa (11 more hours). Then they join a camera-only safari tour. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Back at the American terminal, we waited and waited, a fitting beginning to "The Longest Night". The sun set and planes kept coming and going. Finally the 747-400 came in from New York. The people on it got off while the ground crew prepared it for the 14.5 hour flight to SYD. As a sign we saw later said, “It’s a bloody long way.”        Map Link     

Boarding took a long time, since every seat was full. Not long after scheduled time, we pushed back, taxied to the runway and started. That big plane rolled and rolled and rolled until it finally got up enough speed to climb. We're off.

Dinner was served with free wine, very nice. After everything was cleared, the lights were turned off. D & I read for a little while, then crashed. We woke up at 6 hours 30 minutes into the flight with 7:45 to go (and some 5600 miles). Not enough - back to sleep for a while. Woke up with 4:42 to go and stayed awake - at this point we only have remaining the same amount of miles as that from Dulles to LAX. With three hours to go, the lights came up and the breakfast service began.

I had the aisle seat and D the middle. The window seat was taken by a lady from Brownsville who talked D to death and was very opinionated. D says I get the middle seat going home.

We spiffed up as much as one can in a 747 washroom. At an hour to go, we spied the coastline and the sun came up.

We saw Sydney harbor from 10,000 feet or so, very nice, sunny day. Landed without event and went thru the customs drill, then picked up the rental phone. My Mastercard was denied by MC. ??? Charged it to something else and caught the taxi into town during rush hour (nowhere near as bad as DC, worse than Panama City).

Since the date is now 5/3/2006, I'll leave the rest to the file for that date.